The College Experience: My First Semester

When you were a kid, chances are, your parents enforced the idea in your head that you must go to college in order to pursue a good career. I was always an education-geared person and imagined big things for myself–going to University, becoming a teacher, and leaving a mark on the world.

This year I started my first semester of college. Technically I did two, because I took a summer English class and passed with an A, but things went downhill very fast from there. When the semester started in August, I was enrolled in five classes. English, Educational Psychology, Psychology, Math 95, and Intro to Secondary Education.

I will admit, I was thrilled. It started off wonderfully, and I was extremely dedicated. At the start of the semester, I was only working 25 hours a week at McDonald’s, so I had a lot of time on my hands. A few weeks into the semester and things quickly started to change.

For starters, Math 95 was much harder than I anticipated. Even though it was considered high school Algebra, there were many things I’d never even seen before. While starting off strong, my grades started to slip, and the speed of the course really threw me off. Meanwhile, even though I was staying after for study groups and tutoring, I got a new job where I was working 48 hours. This made my time for studying even less, and my Math 95 class grade went from an A to an F in a matter of weeks.

Fast-forward to mid-October, I realized I couldn’t keep it going. There was too much work and not enough hours in the day, so I made the decision to audit three of the five classes, choosing to stay enrolled in Psychology and English. This, of course, caused me to mess up my financial aid because over $500 was due. There was not enough time for me to raise the money, and now, almost mid-January, my financial aid has been revoked and I was immediately unenrolled from all of my Spring classes.

Of course, this got me thinking: Where do I go from here? I can’t possibly be the only person that’s dealt with a situation like this in college, but sometimes it feels like I’m alone as far as this college thing goes. I truly don’t know how to do it, and I’ve finally realized it’s okay for me to admit that.

When I was a high school student, I did so well. I always had in school, and all my teachers told me that when I got to college, I was going to love it. I was going to do well. I was going to get good grades.

Well, I’m sorry, but that was not the case. That is not the truth. I entered college completely unaware of what to expect, and was down the drain before I even started.

So now the biggest question is: Where will I go? What will I do? I’m not writing this as a pity party. I am writing this because I know I am not, and will never be, the only college student that has gone through this. Whatever has happened, you can overcome it. For now, I will find my way somehow. I know what I want and I will never throw my dreams away. There just has to be a different way of approaching it.

I will continue to keep people updated on my journey, in hopes of inspiring those around me. Because if anyone knows me, one thing I am not is a quitter.